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*phew*

([personal profile] merimask Oct. 9th, 2007 03:26 am)
 So tired...tired & really ragged.  I just want my car drama to end & my kid to snap out of being all teenager-y &...you know.  That stuff.  World peace would be great too.

I've been working (and WORKING) on my new Medusa idea all day & all night & half the morning & I'm still nowhere near finished.  I'm thinking even if this idea looks awesome, there's no way I'll ever be fairly compensated for this finished mask.  I'm going to have to slap a hefty price on it & I'm not sure all the extra work is going to be evident to your average mask-buying customer.

Even though I'm utterly beat I had to snap a pic of my progress.  See...

I just started painting the white borders around each & every one of those spots & I had to quit 'cause I'm seeing double.  Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes are complicated little motherf***ers.  Basically, doing twelve tiny rattlesnakes is exhausting, meticulous work.

Also, I'm too wrapped up in the details & too close to the project, & I can't tell if it's cool or not.  I thought it'd look neat, but it's SO busy & so..."jungle print"-ish that I'm wondering if it's too much.  My usual plan for Medusa's color scheme is a simple two-tone metallic treatment, usually in jewel tones over black.  Very mysterious & glamorous in an evening gown sort of way.  

This Medusa with natural looking snakes is primal & a bit scary & really really busy.  I don't know how that's going to work itself out. 

I HATE wearing myself thin on a complicated project when I'm not sure how it'll be perceived.   It makes me cranky.

*slump*

In other news the Etsy shop I set up on Sunday has been a great source of joy for me.  Just a little over 24 hours old, & I have about a hundred hits on my wolf masks & several people who "heart" it.  How cool is that?

I also put a bunch of less expensive gift-type items in there.  I still can't get over how easy it is to use.  Very, very fun.  A great diversion.  Potentially, a great source of leads for more retail accounts as well.  I decided to go ahead & take the plunge because the owner of that "Wild Birds Unlimited" shop told me that he & several of the other franchise owners have found suppliers at Etsy.  They use it as a source for contacting wholesale artisans.  That's awesome news, as the usual venue for that is trade shows (which are very very expensive to enter...one small 10 X 10 space can start at 5,000 dollars for a single day).  I'm thinking, twenty cents for a four-month listing is the cheapest possible investment in self promotion I could hope to make.  How can I lose?

Bed now.

EDIT:  Oh heck have you guys SEEN this?   "Genesis 19. Total insanity"
 

From: [identity profile] golden-meliades.livejournal.com


Saw that your link was biblical and ran away.

So back to the entry, then! I also saw your pic first thing in the morning on my Friends page and went AUUUUGGHHH! and felt this panicked urge to STOMPSTOMPSTOP!! but there...it's just a mask! *whew* I could NEVER put that on my face because I'd always be freaking myself out when the pattern caught the corner of my eye or if I, god forbid, passed a mirror and saw a nest of snakes on my head.

I am not at all reasonable about snakes. Yours are looking too realistic for my comfort level :)

Sorry about Charlotte...and she's only 14, too, so you've got about three more years before she starts acting like something closer to a human being again. My one-younger sister and I were the most un-teenagery teenagers I know, (but my baby sister was a BRAT) but even we were still a bit of a trial. Teenagers are the most self-absorbed creatures on earth...AND they are convinced to their very marrow that no one understands them...ESPECIALLY their parents...despite the fact that their parents were once teenagers too.

Doesn't matter who you are, it seems like that's a stage you just have to go through and you won't believe any of it until you're safely into your twenties.

I 'hearted' you right away, as a seller. I usually 'heart' individual items rather than the sellers, and then I heart the seller too IF they have a high enough proportion of things I love in their store...but it seems different for most Etsians. Most people seem to have 1 or 2 pages of favourite items, but dozens of favourite sellers.

I tried to get your wolf into a treasury yesterday morning but I didn't get one...it's REALLY hard to get a treasury. I've gotten three by amazing luck...one I actually TRIED to get but the other two just happened to me. Treasuries are the fastest way to get your item more hearts :) (But it's considered tacky to feature your own items in a treasury so you have to hope someone who likes your stuff gets one and puts you in.)

Oh, I've got a lot of little bits of Etsy figured out :) One way to increase traffic to your shop is to browse a lot and 'heart' other items and sellers, because often sellers will check the profiles/shops of people who 'heart' them, and will end up 'hearting' back. (Heart begins to look really wrong once you've typed it enough.) Also, frequenting the forums and having conversations with people brings them all in to check out who you are.

One other thing to attract people who are just browsing, maybe even people who don't have Etsy accounts (yet!) is to list an item every day rather than all the ones you have at once. This is because of the way search works. People can search titles, tags and descriptions as well as materials, so if anyone searches ANY of the words you have as a tag, title, in your description, or made of what your item is made of, then your item will show up as a result of that search. And if you list one item per day, that means you'll always be in the front page of results returned for any of those keywords. :)

Um, that was probably way more than enough info, eh? I'm just pretty thrilled with Etsy, even after two months :D

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com


That new Medusa is REALLY not going to be popular with anyone who is even a little snake phobic, I'm sure. :-) It's very primal that way, which is what I'm going for. I figure, anyone who actually likes snakes will love it.

I LOVE Etsy! I should have jumped in long ago. Any tips you have are welcome.

From: [identity profile] kls-eloise.livejournal.com


That is quite a mask. I *like* snakes (I was in Petco on Saturday crooning to a baby ball python that he could come home with me and I would feed him chipmunks. People must have thought I was nuts.), but if you left that laying on the floor I'd probably jump backwards. I think it's enormously cool. I have to agree that I'm not sure you're going to get the money that the time is worth, but it's really neat.

How about copperheads or coral snakes? A coral snake medusa could be festive... in a creepy kind of way.

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com


Actually, I already had a second Medusa ready to paint (you can see her naked in the background of that picture) and I thought "Hmm! Copperhead!" I did a Northern copperhead before (for my beloved Oroboros mask) & I remembered it was pretty attractive).

So yep...I spent a chunk of Tuesday afternoon painting a Copperhead Medusa & it looks awesome. It went a lot faster than the diamondback too...about a third of the time. Still, twice as long as it takes to do a metallic-on-black Medusa but in general MUCH less painful.

Pics tomorrow, or whenever I get around to doing the eyes. :-)

From: [identity profile] golden-meliades.livejournal.com

And again


Wow, Meri! I sent a convo to one of the people I met on Etsy and pointed her to your shop and she replied just now and said to tell you congratulations on opening your shop so quick and making an immediate sale and I'm like 'whut' because I didn't see any sales this morning, so it must have just happened, eh?

Some people wait MONTHS to make a sale...it's not even that uncommon! I expect mine'll take a few weeks at the least. :)

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com

Re: And again


Hee! Is that good? I don't know enough about Etsy, but I am awfully pleased with my shop & with the response I'm getting. I entered my wolf in an Etsy Halloween contest & I feel pretty good about my chances...especially since one of the mods faved my site (or do they do that for everyone?).

Thanks for the tips. I put in some less expensive pieces & that's what sold (a butterfly), but that's ok 'cause the sooner I start selling, the sooner I'll get feedback. I probably should have spaced out my entries (like you said, it keeps you on the "recent arrivals" board & gets attention that way), but I'm just too excited to slow down. :-)

From: [identity profile] golden-meliades.livejournal.com

Re: And again


Okay, I am about to prove just HOW Etsy obsessed I am...

I click EVERYTHING that can be clicked on Etsy, pretty much...I knew which of your items had sold because I clicked on the link beneath your area where it says 11 items for sale...under that it says 1 item sold...and I often click on sellers' sold items to see what they've made in the past.

I also check out how many items have sold and (I did this today) then go to their feedback and check the 'feedback left for others' area and subtract it from their total feedback to see if this is the type of seller who leaves feedback for their customers or not. (I checked on one lady who hasn't left me feedback yet about something I bought, but then I did the math, saw that she'd left feedback for 41 of the 50 items she had sold, and that she always leaves feedback in lumps and that nothing sold after the date of the last feedback she had left had received it yet, and the number was nine, which brought it properly to the level of ALL the items sold, which means she leaves feedback for EVERYONE...so I stopped worrying that she wouldn't leave feedback...she'll leave it some time in the future when she does all the feedback she has to leave at once.)

Feedback is actually a big deal...a LOT of buyers don't leave it. It's very maddening. TheInvitation is having a hard time even getting ONE person to leave it and she has actually straight out ASKED her buyers to please leave her feedback...and they still don't. If you get nine out of ten people to leave feedback, you are INCREDIBLY lucky. Some people have a ratio of more like 1 in 2.

Now as for the mod who faved you...did they fave your shop (meaning they faved you as a seller) or did they fave the wolf mask specifically. I check your 'hearts' in the 'see who hearts this seller' link in your shop, and I see you are 'hearted' by 6 people, including me. None of them appear to be mods, to me, but then two are marked 'secret'. Can you see who the 'secret' ones are? Is one of THEM the mod?

If the mod has faved your item (the wolf mask) and not YOU, as a seller, then no one but you can see it...I haven't found a way yet to see how many people heart an item...you can only see how many fave a seller/shop.

If that's the case, click on the mod to see their profile, and on the right hand side of the screen, where it says 'profile/favourites/feedback', click on favourites. The first thing that will pop up is their favourite items, but you can also hit 'favourite sellers' to see their fav sellers. If they have all of the members faved from the contest, or all of the items, then you know it wasn't special but just them keeping track of everybody and in that case they probably are a judge or monitoring the contest in some way. But if they DON't, then they just like your item a lot :)

However, even though they're a mod/admin, they might not be in a judging position...it's really hard to say.

Also, about listing your items...you can stretch it out by not lumping your items together. What I mean is...I know you listed four or five butterflies as one item with multiple quantity. This puts them all out there at the same time. But if you list them one at a time it not only makes your shop look more full, it also allows you to list them over time to stretch out how much chance you have to be noticed...and it doesn't cost any more. It is twenty cents to list an item whether it is a fresh item or just a +1 to an item you already have up. So you pay a dollar to list your butterfly in a quantity of five (as one item/listing) or you can pay a dollar to list five butterflies. :)

I don't know if that helps, or just proves that I'm a psycho.

From: [identity profile] golden-meliades.livejournal.com

Re: And again


PS: Your shipping is really high. That can keep people from buying even if they are fine with the price of your item. Does it really cost ten dollars to mail that little butterfly?

If it really DOES cost that much, it might be better to build some of the shipping cost into the price of the item itself and then charge a more normal amount for shipping. You still get the same amount, but then people won't be shocked to see that a brooch costs ten extra dollars due to shipping.

Does that make sense? I just thought I should let you know that that's much higher than I've seen from any other seller. :)

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com

Re: And again


Well...I guess it was a conundrum for me...the shipping. I always use USPS Priority mail with delivery confirmation. It's expensive but it always gets there fast & I can track it. Experience has taught me that using anything else IS cheaper but can sometimes be lost...also if I can't track it I can't prove it got there & people can SAY something didn't make it when it did (I found that out the hard way too).

So, I'd totally offer free shipping with the masks (I can absorb it into the price), but with little things there's just no way. I have free grouping (no charge for more than one item...it's just 5.00 whether you oder one thing or ten), so I guess I was hoping people might order more than one thing.

Time will tell. I can always change it.

From: [identity profile] golden-meliades.livejournal.com

Re: And again


Ah, before when I looked at it there wasn't a discount for grouped shipping. Curious :)

People WILL most likely order more than one smaller item to make the shipping worth it. I know *I* always do if I'm ordering from someone whose shipping is higher but has multiple purchase discounts on shipping.

From: [identity profile] ermine-rat.livejournal.com


I get the blindness of focus thing. I get so involved in a calligraphy project that I have no idea what it looks like until I see it months later. I just get obsessed with the minute details that few will notice...but shriek at me. Wine, do your stuff!

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com


Yeah...it's like that. Also, I keep getting seduced by the pattern of the diamondback & I forget what a PAIN it is to reproduce. I need to stick to simpler snakes.

From: [identity profile] geirny.livejournal.com


From the glimpse in that picture that mask is amazing. I hope you are wrong and you get every dime it's worth for it. I can't wait to see it done!

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com


It turned out cool, I think. Perhaps. It's all done but for the eyes (all those tiny EYES! *sob*), so I'll have a pic in here soon. & then I'll have to decide if I'll sell it or not (probably I will, though).

From: [identity profile] pzb.livejournal.com


While I'm not a fan of snakes myself, I think that looks really awesome at its current state. It's incredibly detailed and I think anyone who has an eye for detail will appreciate that.

I've suddenly come across a lot of people with Esty sites... It says you've already sold one, so it must be worthwhile. XD (Just aside from the franchising potential.)

From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com


I'm nearly done with BOTH of the Medusas (I did a Copperhead one today), so pics soon of the finished pieces & then I can decide if I achieved what I wanted or not. The problem is, I LOVE the complicated neutral patterns of nature (spangled frittilary butterflies and diamondback rattlesnakes and brown trout) & I keep getting seduced by them...but they are HARD to reproduce and really time consuming, & in general, Nature does a better job than I do. I have to remember that.

You should sell portraits on Etsy! It's SO easy to get an account & it'd be great exposure for you.

From: [identity profile] ramblinsuze.livejournal.com


I think the Medusa mask is INCREDIBLE! I can't wait to see the finished piece. You might want to pick a less complicated pattern for stock, but this would be a great made-to-order piece. If I had the buckeroonies, I'd totally buy it. As it is, I'm definitely buying one of those koi barrettes tomorrow (if they're still there! lol).

I'd never heard of Etsy, but it seems like a great little shop you have. It's a great way to showcase your pieces for very little money.


From: [identity profile] merimask.livejournal.com


I'm almost done with the gals (I did two) so, pictures soon & then I have to decide if I'll put them on Etsy. Probably I will. They'll be pricey but they'll look so cool (I think), & it's a great way to get attention for my shop. *is an attention-hound*

From: (Anonymous)

and Lot...


grabbed his desexing stick and waived it most un-sexilly...

now you must wear your medusa and watch wiizard people dear readers
with friends...

posters of abraham, salted snuts...
.

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